All Forum Posts by: David DuCille

here in Florida biz is booming real estate wise so fewer workers to be had.   You think this is bad, wait til you get to paint and drywall!

you messed up by getting a dumpster.  Did you make it clear to the guys you spoke with that there is a dumpster onsite?  They could be quoting you dump fees.  I'm small time at this point so when I demoed my property I did it myself and brought it to the dump using my allowance for my own house.  

At this point I'd do it myself and hire young family members or friends that you can pay for cheap to help while you over see it

 I'm not a big believer in giving credit for people doing things that they're supposed to do such as pay their rent on time however in the ghetto sometimes you just got to do it!

one of the challenges in the hood here in Tampa is that landlords are offering ridiculously sweet deals to tenants i.e. "$99 moves you in"  if you are a deep pocketed investor with tons of properties you can afford to fix your property if someone from the hood destroys it.  But for small time individuals like myself, this is a challenge.  IT was difficult finding a tenant wiling to pay a full months rent as security deposit.  It's sad to say but many of these tenants feel "entitled".  i got a kick out of how many of them immediately gave me a dirty look and dismissed me standing outside of the property when I told them what the asking price for rent was and they said "in this neighborhood???"  once they saw the quality of the unit, most of them conceded that was fair and the $900 they were used to paying never rented them a unit anywhere as nice as mine.  

So finding good tenants in bad neighborhoods is not easy and if there is too much "hood rat ****" going on then even the good tenants wont stay and you'll always be looking for new tenants.  For me, getting to know the other neighbors, some of whom were good and some of whom were up to no good, goes a long way.  I let them know my story, that I'm a guy that grew up dirt poor in a ****** house and while I do this to make money now, I also want to see the community improve.  I don't want young kids to have to come home to a crappy house like I did.  I want them to at least have a decent place to come home to where they can be safe and focus on their school work and have an ever so slightly better opportunity to make it out of the ghetto if they desire.  It seems to resonate with them more than just being some "slumlord"

 Sounds awesome Tina!  Section 8 really is a no brainer.  The challenge in the Tampa market is that Tampa Housing Authority runs Section 8 program for all of Hillsborough county now so realistically people can get really nice houses in very nice neighborhoods.  Places like Riverview, brandon, and valrico where market rents are a little lower than Tampa proper are now able to participate in the Section 8 program.  It used to be that section 8 was kept to mediocre neighborhoods but now you have nice neighborhoods where a landlord can get pretty much the same market rent  via section 8 and have it guaranteed so it's a no brainer.  we renovated our unit to the 9's but for that reason it was still tougher to rent because the neighborhood is that bad.

I just read your other post.  I agree that you are being priced too high considering you have a dumpster on site.  How much is the dumpster costing you?  here in florida most often I see people with simple dump trailers that they load up and tow to the dump as opposed to dumpsters on site.  Obviously you have already paid the expense of getting the dumpster so now you are really just looking at day laborers to rip things out and throw it in a dumpster.  that is NOT $30/hr work but if you have a crew of 3 guys doing it then $10/hr each is $30/hr and is more than fair.  Hell, I'd look to find some high school kids that want to make some money over the thanksgiving weekend and get it done.

just fully rehabbed a unit like this in tampa.  do yourself a favor and put tile throughout now.  Otherwise you will be replacing dirty carpets and scratched laminate every 3-5 years.   granite is also cheap down here and I use ready to assemble real wood kitchen cabinets.  I place a high value on durability.  even if you don't get higher rents for the additional spend on granite and real wood cabinets, you will have fewer problems and units that will look nice for years to come.   your roofs look good from the pics so that is a plus.  roofs are cheap down here.  what do they have for AC units?  that is what can get pricey is if you have to replace 2 AC units.   

Let me know if you need a reference for a tile guy.  I have a GREAT one who I love.  not sure if he would travel all that way out there though but he does great work, great prices and works fast.

get that money now or else they WILL find a way to backout!!!!!  Just because it's not finished is of no consequence.  Units routinely get shown and leased while current tenant is still there.  My lease requires the tenant to decide on renewing within 60 days so that way i have 2 months to find a tenant.  I recommend taking the security deposit and making it non refundable if they back out.  You can then allow them to give you the first months rent on the move in date.

appeal to 90% of the market 90% of the time.  So you want to keep things in line with what a certain area expects.  If you are in the ghetto, don't start spending a ton of money putting in higher end finishes (I openly admit to putting granite and stainless appliances in my ghetto rental, however granite is VERY cheap here in FL and basic stainless appliances from scratch and dent stores are not that much more expensive and add a lot of impact.)

I have another rental in a nice, blue collar neighborhood.  I could have put in pot lights but that neigborhood doesn't really call for it.  People would love it but they wouldn't want to pay extra for it. I simply changed out the old 1980's light fixtures for a nice modern light fixtures and ceiling fans.  

Backsplashes are a great DIY project to add impact.  it can be as simple as subway tiles with a strip of glass mosaic running through and it gives a higher end appearance to the kitchen while only costing a couple hundred bucks to do.

they make led under cabinet lights that you simply touch by hand and they attach with a magnet so they can even be pulled off to use like a flashlight.  they are dirt cheap and don't require you to wire them to a switch.  

for me personally, the higher end products are also about durability.  Here in florida, we have very sandy soil.  Carpets and laminate flooring get wrecked fast.  The sand scratches the **** out of hardwood and laminate.  Tile is the way to go.  it's a little more expensive than the other options but it will last forever and when a tenant turns over, I'll only have to mop floors not replace them.

not unreasonable at all but it seems the people in Washington state are saying that the law says a contractor MUST be on the deed to flip the property. That is what sounds ridiculous to me. to restrict people with resources from improving their community just seems silly. To me what I love about this stuff is the opportunity for win-win's with all parties involved. As a realtor I get plenty of buyers who see the value in buying a fixer upper but simply dont have the cash to do the work or the properties need a roof or AC and thus can't get financed. FHA 203k is NOT a very user friendly program. investors coming in and doing the work and giving people good properties to purchase helps the neighborhood, the buyers and the investors. seems like something govt should be encouraging. Of course you want to make sure the work is being done properly, but again, that is what home inspections are about.